I am currently working on a website that I am sure will become huge. It is a game that is targeted at teens but would be fun for all ages. It is something that has never been done before. I have invested $5000 for a coder and estimated delivery time is three months. My only concern is how I am going to release the site to the public. As with most game sites, quantity is a must. If I just out of nowhere made the site public and then started advertising im pretty sure it would take a while to get people using the site. That is mainly because people would come to the site and become bored when not too many people are there to play along with. I know I could advertise the site and get users to sign up for a mailing list and then send them a mail when the site is up or about to be released. What do you think? Release the site then start advertising and be ready for a rough first few weeks? Or make a big deal about the site and hope a truck load of people flock to the site on opening day? Also I would like to know if getting "sponsors" from big companies or websites would work. If I did a good job at selling the site/idea to them do you think they would bite? Is there a way to protect my idea so if I contact someone about a sponsorship they cant take my idea and try to do it themselves?
Only big companies do pre-release. If you are starting a gaming site I would suggest keep some money separate, possibly $3000. First few weeks you will be spending most of your time fixing bugs. Trust me its gonna be a major issue. Make plan what you will do for marketing ahead. During the first few weeks you can get reviews from top gaming bloggers. Advertise on classified ads sites like webcosmo.com, craigslist.com etc. Submit to social bookmarking sites, social networking sites. If you run a contest that should work well for gaming. Good luck to your new venture.
Thanks for the suggestions, I will keep it in mind. Just to clarify on the game... its a type of game you would expect to see on pogo.com. Not like an RPG or things like that. Also I was thinking if I opened the site privately to lets say 100 people and then ask big sites that do reviews to come in and play around on the site then post the reviews on opening day. Would that be good/doable?
You should create a few PPC campaigns. Offer the Email to Friend script. And do a Press-Release after your site has taken off a bit.
The email to friend is a good idea, I didnt even think of that. Yeah I was thinking a press release would be a must. Thanks.
I can start with a private small group, then again advertising will fail since other won't be able to join the site. And its kind of fails to serve the purpose of the site in my opinion. Big companies like Google did the same with GMail, they started with limited number of people. But their goal was bug fixing mainly before they open it to everybody. Another marketing options is getting a review from game magazines. It may be difficult, but it will give you a good boost.
Opening it to a limited number is just so the people who are reviewing can actually play and see how the site is so they can give a review. If theyre popular reviewers and they put the review up on the day the site is open to public it would give me a decent chunk of members. The problem is getting them to do this. Getting a review from a magazine would be very hard IMO. I will definitely try though. Thanks.
Has anyone ever tried MySpace advertising? I was thinking about giving that a try as it would appeal to most of the users.
Well, when your site first opens you're going to have a lot of bugs to fix so maybe too much pre-advertising wouldn't be a good idea - but definitely some. So start building up a mailing list, and maybe try to get a review from a popular site, or even better, a magazine or something. It'd probably be hard but if this game is as good as you say it's going to be, then there would be people who would love to have the first scoop on it. I'm pretty curious myself, so if you are going to build a mailing list and then contact these people when the game is released, PM me. I want to play! LOL.
Im pretty sure there wont be many bugs because this guy has 30-40 people working for him that will be testing through the whole coding process. I dont know if I want to go and make a huge deal about it then release it. If I start too early someone else could jump in and try to beat me to release.
You probably dont want to go telling the big corporate level sites about it. The cliche' is to say "naaaaw they'd never do nothing bad" but in reality, they have people thatwork for them just to scout ideas. If your game is as catchy and new as you say it is, think how easy it would be for a corporation to build something 'very similar' ..they could then promote their game overnight with a massive budget..and ya know what happens then? = you look like somebody that copied THEM. because yours will come trudging down the track months later ,and by then everybody will already be used to the bigger and more popularized site. They know that have that speed, promotion and budget ability. They believe its their job to do that to stay competitive and seek out the best new ways for their investors money. In my opinion it would be like stepping out in front of a train and saying= "want to see my site?" ...<BLAM> lol There might be people with no experience that say = "naaa they wouldnt do that". Thats the PR image. but if you talk to any that worked in , around, or were in any project etc that dealt with corporate competition they'll be able to echo this back to you. Procurring bigger and better deals, business, and trends for their investors ..is their 'job' . .and ethics to them is a 'gray' area. Gray areas start with = "well, how many people would know? and then, how many people would believe it?" Will you be the guy saying some giant corp ripped off your idea ,like the countless slews of millions? Do you know what the cliche' public response to that is? = "youre full of sh*t" .. and its highly possible that a good dea lof WOM gets put out to create that cliche' Enter at own risk. better to try to build it what is called grass roots . Start as many friends, and freinds of friends. if you can create a craze large enough where people would then know your site and know if it was ripped off.. thats when you will be asked to sell your idea for a million bucks. Thats my opinion on it. I'm all for capitalism, love the money , but not too ignorant to know what corporate scouts do. The ethics practices employed by corporations will depend on the corporation. Some are better ..some are downright friggin evil. Those ones wont only chase down your idea ,they'll try to harrass you personally and create an image of depicting you as 'crazy'. Those people that think somebody's watching them ,tapping them, following them blah blah. If you're made into 'that guy' ..nobody will believe that you once made an idea that a big company stole. As a safety rule: assume corporations are only nice, when they have to be .= when a critical mass is watching them. a couple sources: Nikola Tesla = discovers a way (he claimed) to power every house and vehicle for free. His projects were torn down, sold for parts..Tesla went from very credible electrical engineer and discoverer to being blotted out almost completely for decades. He died in poverty. Tesla created the AC electrical power that connects every house and building on the electricity grid today. The company you pay was called Edison. The radio, RC , the AC motor (from blow dryer to electric carsthe AC spinning motor) and at least 100 other discoveries that you use everyday. The big rage now to replace foreign oil addiction is salt water conversion to hydrogen. in 1970's a man named Stan Meyers had already discovered this and was trying to promote the idea. He then became depicted as 'crazy' over the next decade and one day while eating in a diner , jumped up and ran outside yelling that he'd been poisoned and died in the street. Old news coverage of his idea. http://youtube.com/watch?v=a74uarqap2E
Yeah thats everything I was thinking would happen. Thats the same thing that could happen if I pre-released it too early.
If I were asked, I would have to say, JV partners! Why not offer it to people on this forum for a short time. Let them have the product for free provided they give you a testimonial. Regards, RPM
Work the media. If appropriate, ask a columnist to give your site a whirl. Is your site "photo worthy?" News stories with images/photos are read 6 times more often than those without. PR good luck. I hope to read about you!